Native American Canoe Built in Maine is Launched for major book
Author David Cook in an
authentic birch bark canoe on the Kennebec River in Maine
By Ramona du Houx
Launching an authentic Native American birchbark
canoe is an event in itself because there are very few in existence. Last summer James
Eric Francis, Sr., Penobscot tribal historian launched a traditional birchbark canoe built
by Maine’s four tribes, to highlight the importance of the book, Above the Gravel
Bar: The Native Canoe Routes of Maine. David Cook, the author, was on hand to talk
about the book.
People travel from all over the world to take to
the waterways of Maine in canoes and kayaks. They come for the serenity, the unspoiled
landscapes, and as some say — "the magic of Maine." Some feel the
connection to an ancient past where Native Americans used the rivers as their highways.
Now they can read about that historic past in Above the Gravel Bar: The Native Canoe
Routes of Maine.
The book retraces the routes Native Americans
used as a central infrastructure to trade. Amazingly the rivers in Maine connect like
roadways and often are more direct routes than modern highways. The book provides detailed
maps for the routes if people wish to retrace them.
"Once you travel a route you feel more
connected to Maine’s heritage. Being out on the river, watching bald eagles, takes
you back in time," said Cook. "Knowing what the Indians called landmarks, and
that they traveled these highways bridges centuries. Canoeing in Maine is a direct
connection with the past and a confrontation with the age-old realities of water and
weather."
"Above the Gravel Bar puts the true
ancestral landscape into perspective," said tribal historian James Francis, Sr., who
wrote a foreword for the book. The book will be a part of the curriculum for Maine’s
schools which Francis is working on.
"The canoe people of the North Woods and
Gulf of Maine lived for hundreds of generations on the land we have inhabited for 300
years and we should know and respect that history," said Cook. "Birchbark canoes
are regarded as the most important technical achievement in Northeast."
With ecotourism on the rise globally, taking to
theses waterways, traveling the same routes as the Indians, could become a vacation
families and the adventurous would enjoy thoroughly.
Cook, who has enjoyed canoeing since he was a
boy, served a tour in Vietnam before earning a masters degree in liberal studies at the
University of Maine. He taught history at Winthrop High School. He also served as
president of the Maine Archeological Society and since his retirement has been an adjunct
faculty member at Central Maine Community College and the University of Maine at
Farmington.
Above the Gravel Bar is available at bookstores
throughout the state or directly by mail from Polar Bear & Company, PO Box 311, Solon,
Maine or phone at 643-2795 or www.polarbearandco.com. For the holiday season the book
is available for $10 directly from the publisher.
Canoe routes just $10- postage included
-direct from the publisher - 207-643-2795
or send check to: Polar Bear & Co. PO
BOX 311, Solon, Maine 04979
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